POWAY  A driver was injured and his 19-year-old passenger was killed early Thursday in a collision with a fire engine responding to a medical-aid call in Poway, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Authorities identified the victim as Evelyn Jean Courtney, who lived with her parents in Poway.

Courtney’s Facebook page said she attended Poway High School and Mt. Carmel High, and shows professional photographs of her as a model.

Her father, Wade Courtney, wrote about the tragedy on his Facebook page. “No one should ever have to go through the pain of burying their child,” he said.

The fire engine, with overhead lights activated, was heading east on Poway Road about 4 a.m. and had a green light entering the intersection with Midland Road when it collided with a southbound Honda Accord, sheriff’s Lt. Jeffrey Duckworth said. The truck hit the car’s passenger side, pushing it into a light pole.

Courtney died at the scene. The driver, a 44-year-old San Diego man, ﻿was hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, Duckworth said.

Three Poway firefighter/paramedics on the rig were not injured and rendered medical aid. A paramedic unit that was behind the truck continued on to the emergency.

Duckworth said an open alcoholic beverage container was found in the car, and authorities are investigating if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the collision.

On his website, Wade Courtney said he is a photographer and writer. He wrote on Facebook that there were no words to express how he felt. “It’s like anger, love, fear, sadness all rolled up into one,” he said.

In a personal message to his daughter, he said he “was proud of the way you were turning your life around.”

Photographer Nirav “Manny” Mankad said he took pictures of Courtney last fall for a fashion magazine. “She was very easy to work with, very graceful,” he said.

They worked with makeup artist Rowena Cavanaugh and hair stylist Monica Vasquez, co-owners of Old Town Powder Room stylist company in Temecula.

“She was the sweetest thing,” Vasquez said in a telephone interview. “She had been modeling about two years, working with local San Diego photographers, building her portfolio. She was just doing it while she was young. I know she had plans to go to college, maybe medical school. She was a smart girl.”

Mark Sanchez, the city of Poway’s director of safety services, issued a statement offering sympathy to the families and said the fire department “is cooperating with law enforcement professionals while they conduct a comprehensive investigation of this accident.”